Visiting Yarn Stores in NYC

I was in New York over the last couple of days to present a workshop for librarians at the New York Public Library with a colleague. She was wonderfully patient with my need to visit yarn stores during our free time. We made it to three--Purl in Soho, Seaport Yarn down near the Fulton Street Strand bookstore, and Yarn Connection on Madison Avenue. Purl was a lot smaller than I expected. They have a variety of lovely (but expensive) yarn. I wish I'd waited just a day longer with the order I sent to Flying Fingers for the Blue Sky Alpacas sport weight yarn for the fingerless mitts in the current Interweave Knits issue--I could have picked it up at Purl. Oh well. Flying Fingers's service was fabulous.

Seaport Yarn was quite large and bursting with yarn, but unfortunately it had no air conditioning and it was sweltering inside. I almost bought some Louet Gems Worsted merino yarn (though the label didn't actually say "Gems," everything else seemed to match) in a lovely eggplant color for Stefanie Japel's Cable-Down Raglan in the Spring 2007 IK. But my notes weren't completely clear about the exact amount I needed, and by that time I thought I'd pass out from the heat. So no purchases there, either. Andrea Waller, the owner, is extremely nice.

The Yarn Connection was very close to our hotel, and easy to visit just before we headed for the train station. I hit pay dirt here, getting Donata by Adrienne Vittadini in a lovely purple color for the Textured Tunic in Stefanie Japel's Fitted Knits. This store had a wide variety of yarns, many of which were marked down.

My friend and I had a chance to take the guided tour of the NYPL yesterday afternoon, and it was fascinating. We had a sneak peek at the closed stacks (books arranged by height), saw the pneumatic tubes that are used to send off the requests for books from the reading room to the various levels of the stacks, and peaked into some of the special collections' rooms, including that of the Berg Collection of English and American Literature. One of the treasures pointed out to us was Charles Dickens' desk. I really didn't have a grasp on the riches of the library, or its availability to the public, before I took the tour.

Despite having some knitting time on the train, I didn't get as far as I'd hoped with my Rib Hugger vest. Maybe I can finish the knitting tomorrow, though the seaming may have to wait till later in the week. We're heading off to the Madison-Bouckville Antiques Show, and that will be a full day. I can knit in the car, but I can't seam there!